Narcissists and The #NoMakeup Selfie

You may havenoticedthat your Twitter and Facebook feeds are cluttered with a slew of "selfies" with the hashtag #nomakeup. Alargenumber of these selfies are being posted to raisecancerawareness. How a #nomakeupselfieactuallyraisescancerawareness is beyond me. Whatdoesraisingawarenessdoforthoseafflicted with cancerorthose that will getcancer in thefuture? Longstory short, NOTHING. Cancerneedsresearchandresearchcostsmoney, socancercharities are alwaystrying to raisemoneyformoreresearch in order to find a cure. Posting a picture of yourunmade up face will not necessarilybringdonations into cancercharities. Howevertherecent narcissistic practice of selfies is beingjustified (at least in the UK) by claiming to raiseawarenessforcanceranditdidlead to a slightincrease in donations to cancercharities. So "Yay" for that.

However, there is a largerissue that is not beingaddressed. There arestill a plethora of poorlylit, out of focus#nomakeup selfies being posted on the interwebz fornootherreason than to say, "Look at me!" It's not surprisingthat narcissism levels are on therise, andhavebeenforyears. Theincreaseswerenoted before "socialmedia" waseven in theregularvernacular. However, narcissism has clearly skyrocketed since theadvent of socialmedia. At thesametime, itseemsthat there has been a steepdecline in kindness, charityandempathy levels since theadvent of Facebook and Twitter. Eventhoughwe are moreconnected than ever, we are lessinterested in otherpeople, unless thoseotherpeoplehaveopinions on us! "Enough about me, whatdoyouthink about me?" It'salmost as ifhavingelectronicaccessibility has made us all a littlemoreantisocial.

I believethereasonthe#nomakeupselfiebecoming a trend is not onlysoparticipants can believethatall of Instagram actuallythinksthat a blurry andpoorlylitselfie is what one reallylooks like, but to alsobenefit from getting "likes" andcomments on "howcute" theylook, therebyreassuringthose with fragileegosandthose with narcissistic behaviorthatthepractice of posting thesetypes of pictures is acceptable. Let me allowyou in on something...it's NOT acceptable.

Whatirks me somuch is that peopleapplaudandremarkhow "brave" one is to post a picture with nomakeup. That's not brave. Capturing a spider int he bathtub is brave. Thewhole#nomakeupselfietrendseems to implythatwomen are so dependent on their makeupthattheverythought of photographing themselves not completelymade up is somesort of super humanor super altruisticthing. This is not onlyridiculous, butit'sinsulting. Worseyet, someparticipants in the#nomakeupselfiecrazehaveaccusedthose that DON'T participate in thisridiculousmockery of bravery, of beingvain. Vain? Becausetheychose to not take a selfservingpicture sans makeup? Pluheeze!

Thecore of theissuehere is shamingwomenforwearingmakeup. I am here to saythat there is NOTHINGwrong with wearingmakeup. Womenwearmakeupformanyreasons. Themajority of them wearmakeupbecausetheyLIKEmakeup! Theylikethewaytheylook in makeup, theyliketheritual of theapplication, they like thecolorsandtheartistry. I'm not sayingwomen, like myself, don't likethewaywelook without makeupandit'stheonlyreasonwewearthestuff. Not at all. That's like sayingthatwomenonlywearclothesbecausetheydon't likethewaytheylook without clothes....wait. Badexample. It's like sayingmengrowbeardsbecausetheydon't like thewaythelook without one...Mengrowbeardsbecause THEY CAN. Womenwearmakeupbecause THEY CAN! It'sjustthat simple.

Nowifwe can juststoptakingsomany selfies that would be a step in therightdirection. Let's not focussomuch on yourselves andstart to focusmore on our worldandwhat'sgoing on in it. Ifpeoplededicated half thetimetheydo to taking, editing and posting selfies, andinsteadfocused on localandworldeventsmaybetheworld would be a batterplace. Maybewe would caremoreforeachother. Maybewords like "selfie" and hashtags like #nomakeup will become a passing fadandwords like Altruism and #MakingADifference will fill our socialmediafeedsinstead. There is alwayshope!

I couldn't agree more! Especially the point about wearing makeup simply because we like makeup. I like my bare face just fine, and am bare faced 75% of the time, but I love wearing makeup. I love the process of "dolling up" before going out. I have invested time and money in the pursuit of my collection and I love it all. Nothing irks me more than when someone tells me I shouldn't wear "all that stuff on my face" (direct quote) because I look better without it. I realize there is a compliment somewhere in that backhanded remark, but it really hacks me off.

#NoMakeup is supposed to be like being sponsored to do a walk/run for a fundraiser. They are missing the integral thing, a donation. The point of the selfie was to raise awareness while raising money to donate to cancer research foundations...

Basically, they make a promise, "I'll wear no make-up for this many hours, will you sponsor me to do it the whole day?" So the sponsor donates something like $1/hour the no makeup 'runner' to cancer foundations.

So all these selfies are just doing it wrong. It is like clicking a like on facebook to cure cancer. Click. Nothing happens. Awareness is more than people being 'aware' of an issue, especially one that everyone knows about, since cancer is still a leading cause of death, everyone is aware of it.

I don't get it either. I think most of the girls and women (I say most, not all) posting these 'no make-up selfies' (indeed hurrah for filters and nude make-up, don't think we're not on to you!) are doing it for no one else but themselves. For their own ego. 'Look at how brave I am, no make-up!' How about instead of digging for compliments (because let's face it, that is what this is mostly about, whether it be compliments about how awesome they are for 'bringing awareness' or just about how fantastic they look make-up free) you actually DO something like raising money, finding sponsors, donating,...

OMG YES thank you! Yet one more reason why I am a fangrrl of yours ;) If I have even ONE person send me some stupid-assed *anything* for cancer awareness that actually does NOT have anything to do with awareness, I will verbally slap the eff out of them and then unfriend. Because I spent the month of September posting REAL things about pediatric cancer awareness. And I spent all of Feb/part of March raising money for pediatric cancer research.

And yep, my new icons are me with no hair. Well almost no hair. (the lack of makeup was mostly because I knew I would be crying that day--which I did--out of joy and happiness--not a bit because I had all my hair shaved off). And THAT is for REAL awareness so when ppl ask me why I have no hair I can tell them all the facts about pediatric cancer and how horribly underfunded it is.

But I cringe when I'm told how "brave" I am to shave my head. Brave is the little 2yo boy I'm praying for who is fighting stage 4 neuroblastoma, and his parents who are dealing with this every single day. Talia was brave. They are my heros. Me, it's just hair.

Sorry for the soapbox. The amount of narcissism from a select few in "the beauty world" has me seething a bit. Sorry to rant on your rant.

I'm so glad my 19yo daughter is not one of these twits. She's more concerned with mentoring youth, esp girls, in science (future neuroscientist!!)

The one I just "love" is "post the status of the color of your bra but don't tell anyone why and that will help with BCA! WHAAAA? What you said makes sense. I mean, that is one of the ways to raise money for St. Baldricks--I'll shave my hair off for a donation. And thanks to amazing friends and family

Ugh, this, it's been driving me nuts since I first heard of the issue. I mean, the least you can do is link to where you can donate on the selfie. How the hell would it raise awareness otherwise? =_=

I also agree that it's really silly to applaud women for not wearing make-up. I feel that wearing make-up is a choice, for me, some sort of art medium that I use to express myself. However, I feel that it should never be considered a necessity, but it shouldn't be something that people are shamed for, either. It's purely the choice of an individual that everyone need to learn to respect: There is nothing wrong with wearing make-up and there is nothing wrong with not wearing make-up, and that's the end of it.

I PARTLY disagree with you on the last part, though. I agree it's definitely worth it to actually to a cause directly or educating yourselves on it instead of using said cause purely as an excuse to post a selfie But for many people, selfies are considered a form of self-expression, not vanity (although there's certainly no shortage of the latter). Again, I feel people shouldn't be shamed for taking selfies. I doubt Frida Kahlo drew self-portraits out of vanity, for example.

I have more to say on this, but I feel I'd just end up quoting this article, so I'd rather give the writer the traffic: http://fatbodypolitics.com/2013/11/22/for-the-love-of-selfies/ (please tell me if it's not okay to post links)

LOVE this post! SO true! I used the zombie no makeup for my 'selfié' (i did credit #pinksith for it) and i have to say i am very comfortable and pleased with it as such. im glad you took on this topic and have gotten to the core about how it is another practice that shames women, under the guise of something "beneficial" (indeed, how does a #nomakeup #selfie do *any*thing for cancer- maybe #shavedmyhead #selfie would be slightly more meaningful in a show of solidarity...). Seriously, aces to you! <3

Totally agree. Nothing brave about posting a makeup-free picture unless your self-esteem is as fragile as a blade of grass. Kinda mocks the bravery of people who must shore up to face cancer... also, all those girls in the examples you used are most certainly under 25. I pity any young lady who is truly afraid to go makeup-free, in part because I was one. It doesn't get any better than how you look now, girls! And SHOCKINGLY enough, your life doesn't end when your dewy youth wanes.

I hadn't realized the statistics for children has risen so much. How very sad. King Arthur Flour is sponsoring cookie bake sales for Cookies For Kid's Cancer: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2014/03/23/cookies-for-kids-cancer/

Preach. I've been reading your blog for a couple years now, but I never comment. You hit the nail on the head and spoke for me. Thank you for putting into words what I've only been able to face palm about.

I love your honest opinion about this...I agree on some levels and some not really. First, the narcissism: I think girls (men) who #selfie a lot for likes are actually really insecure. A true Narcissist couldn't care less about getting too many likes as he/she is already so much in love with him/herself. I think about the original Greek myth: Narcissus had a girl with a crush on him but he was too busy staring in the pond at his own reflection. True narcissist take selfies and do not share, but stare at them in the train/car/etc instead of looking if other people like them (personally, I can be one of them).

Then again, I totally agree that the no makeup selfie is another way of trying to 1. fit in 2. get attention/likes/egoboost/fluff up low selfconfidence. Worse, most of the "no makeups" have the what "stealth makeup" on that we-beautybloggers know so well. Or are so ridiculously young/facelifted that they should be without that much makeup. Ok, gonna check my own selfie again without sharing it to anyone because....;)